A tornado in Farnhamville?

NWS hasn’t confirmed if twister caused damage

By KATIE SCHMITT, Messenger staff writer
FARNHAMVILLE — In the wake of Thursday evening’s storm, Farnhamville is thankful no injuries were reported.

Tornado warning sirens sounded around 9 p.m. but Windy and Matt Goodwin, 630 Sunset Ave., weren’t there to hear it.

‘‘I found out on my way home from work that my roof was gone,’’ said Windy Goodwin. ‘‘The only thing I could think of was my house didn’t have a roof and it was raining.’’

Goodwin said she was able to get some pictures out of the house when she got home, but had no idea where her roof had disappeared to — she found it Friday morning across the street.

Their neighbors, Peggy and Ron Gilday discovered the Goodwins’ roof in their yard and turned around to find their own roof in the back.

‘‘It was all over by 9:30 but we didn’t see how bad it was until this morning,’’ Peggy Gilday said.

So, on Friday morning, the community came to aid both families as well as Raymond Board, who lost a garage housing two cars.

‘‘I came out here to start cleaning up by myself, and they just started showing up to help,’’ Board said.

The two cars in the garage, a 1959 Ford and a 1965 Volkswagen Beetle, were severely damaged.

‘‘I don’t want to look at them just yet,’’ he said of his prized cars.

Windy Goodwin’s sister, Melissa Nanninga, came from Fort Dodge to help in the effort.

‘‘Within three hours everything was moved out of the house,’’ Goodwin said. ‘‘I can’t thank them enough.’’

Goodwin had just moved to the house in Farnhamville four years ago.

‘‘I think that’s what makes it so hard,’’ Goodwin said. ‘‘We just varnished the woodwork. I guess the only thing we can do is do it all over and hope it doesn’t happen again.’’

Goodwin’s children, Keegan, 9, and Mason, 6, were staying with their grandmother just down the street when the storm hit.

‘‘They went to the basement,’’ Goodwin said. ‘‘Thank God our town is OK. It’s such a small town everyone heard the sirens.’’

Just east of Farnhamville, population 430, two machine sheds were blown across the road.

Ed Robertson, one of the people renting the property, kept antique tractors in his shed.

‘‘They don’t have a scratch on them, but I can’t say the same for the building,’’ he said pointing to the pile of wood and metal that was all that remained after the cleanup process.

The house, porch and surrounding trees sustained some damage, but friends from Gowrie and Farnhamville came as early as 6:30 a.m. to help.

‘‘The volunteers are incredible,’’ Nanninga said.

Kerrie Hull, the Calhoun County emergency services coordinator, said the National Weather Service has not confirmed the wreckage was caused by a tornado but is still assessing the damage.

In most areas, between 2 and 5 inches of rain fell. Frank Boksa, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said Fort Dodge got nearly 2 inches of rain, and while this weekend is expected to remain dry, more thunderstorms are on the way.

Tony Jorgensen, Webster County Emergency Management director, said the Des Moines River rose to approximately 9 feet on Friday morning. Flood stage is at 10 feet, and the computer model shows the river will reach 9.5 feet this morning, before beginning to recede.

Jorgensen said he was more concerned about Lizard Creek and recommends the residences near the area keep a close eye on the creek.

‘‘It’s a narrower passage way,’’ Jorgensen said. ‘‘I just don’t trust it.’’

Thursday night’s storm came less than a week after an EF5, milewide tornado ripped through the southern section of Parkersburg and killed seven people, but the Thursday’s storms were far weaker.



Contact Katie Schmitt at (515) 573-2141 or katie@messengernews.net'>katie@messengernews.net'>katie@messengernews.net'>katie@messengernews.net